We need to eliminate NVA of retapping for threaded inserts

Hi I am KK, I work for precision sheet metal company as QA Engg, we manufacture sheet metal parts from raw sheets, we do carry some of the operation as below, like

CNC Blanking(Laser cutting/Punching)
CNC Bending
Inserting
Drilling/taping
Plating/Coating
etc

We have problem at plating, i.e., some of the components have below process like

Laser cutting--->Bending--->Inserting--->Plating--->Retapping of Inserts--->Packing--->Dispatch.

Here the constant is we have to re-tap the inserts (duly plated) which undergo plating process (raw part plating) & cause deposition of plating on the inserts missing Thread gauge. Not to answer or answer negative, I would be thankful if anyone could help me out to overcome this situation and avoid retapping of the parts after plating, which is a total NVA.
Any guidelines to prevent excessive deposition on thread at the time of plating will be appreciated.

Impt: Pressing inserts before bending or sometimes after bending & before plating is necessary, because customer designs sometimes are so complex, where such above operations becomes necessary.

Can you use plugs? Silicon pull plugs work well.

Do the inserts have to be plated? I assume not.

You could try using long wood Q-tips ⇦ on eBay or Amazon [affil link] and put a light coat of hot wax on the inserts. It should be thin enough that you do not have to remove it and thick enough to prevent plating.